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The
Darkest Hour 3D is
the story of five very disposable young adults attempting to stay alive
in an
alien invaded Russia. Starring Emile Hirsch (who probably should have
stayed
lost in Into
the wild),
Rachael Taylor (who has previously been electrifying in character
driven pieces
like Transformers)
and a bunch of other actors you care even less
about. This 3D "epic" is the latest underwhelming attempt from
Hollywood to bludgeon us into cinematic stupidity to forever accept
mediocre
entertainment as the norm.
On
a business trip to Russia Ben (Hirsch) and Sean (the other,
other guy from The Social Network)
get swindled out of their business plan by Skylar (Played by newcomer
Joel
Kinnaman when the studio couldn't afford lookalike Alexander
Skarsgard). Ben
and Sean decide to grow and evolve from their horrible loss the way any
good,
respectful business man does: they go out to get drunk and laid. With
broken
dreams and full wallets these modern day gentlemen find the nearest
American
girls to wine and not so much dine via a suspect backpackers website.
All five of
the main characters then coincidently meet up in the one club and
drink, fight,
flirt and take tacky Facebook profile pictures of each other. It is
during this
meeting of talented minds that aliens decide it's the prime opportunity
to hit Earth
where it hurts: during an Americans abroad drinking montage.
It
is from here the story follows the group through Moscow as it
is invaded by Invisible Aliens. Yes. Invisible Aliens. Utilising the
amazing
technical depth that films like Avatar
(2009) and Tron (2010) have shown us
before, The Darkest Hour now adds to
these achievements by showing us something new in 3D: a 3D enemy you
can't even
see. The aliens are visually shielded to humans and are only seen as
waves of
energy when near electrical equipment. This leaves our gang of Calvin
Klein
models being chased by computer generated lens flares all over Moscow
as they
try to avoid the electricity bill from hell. Armed with their extreme
good
looks and perfect makeup, the Glee club sets off on foot to see if
anyone has
survived. Or maybe it's just to find a working computer to see if
anyone
"Liked" their new Alien invasion profile pics on Facebook.
The
art of less is more has been demonstrated before with films
like Alien (1979) and REC (2007).
However, with The Darkest
Hour being a deliberate holiday popcorn film, this approach
totally
misses the mark. It seems the idea springs more from lack of budget
than clever
script work. This is evident from the low standard of special effects
that
appear throughout the film. While the main characters are cardboard and
forgettable, something has to be said for their perfect hair and their
ability
to bitch about each other during a time of crisis. Extra characters are
dull
and seem to have been copied from previous disaster films like Independence Day (1996) and Deep Impact
(1998), which weren't strong
to begin with.
When
films offer more horror through the viewers imagination,
the end reveal is a huge moment for the film. The moment when the
horror is shown
must be more frightening or surprising than the viewers imaginations.
Consider
cinematic moments like when you first see the other worldly Predator
or when Darth Vader reveals his
human frailty underneath his robotic mask. In The Darkest
Hour the aliens themselves seem like something from a
Saturday morning television science fiction show. A low budget and
nonthreatening
computer generated mess. The same can be said for the rest of the film.
If you
are a 3D nut, enter at your own overpriced risk. Anyone else should
avoid this year's
darkest cinematic hour yet.
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